


of black cats and genius detectives

by StrawberrySpring



Category: Death Note
Genre: Alternate Universe, F/M, Fluff, M/M, Slow Build
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-08-25
Updated: 2016-10-05
Packaged: 2018-08-11 01:50:09
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 4,012
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7870879
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/StrawberrySpring/pseuds/StrawberrySpring
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Light moves into a new apartment. L is his neighbour who lives with his cat.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. serial killers and cat allergies

**Author's Note:**

> HUGE thanks to Zenthisoror for beta reading! And a shout out to Sybilius and Raconteur-incognito for listening me out <3

It had been two weeks since Light had moved into his new apartment. To nobody’s surprise, he had managed to get into Tokyo University and persuaded his parents that it was time he moved out and started looking for apartments. For once, his high school fling with Misa had proved surprisingly useful. Her Aunt Rem owned an apartment that was clean, affordable and available. After a kiss on the cheek and a mature reminder of why they can’t be together (“I don’t want to keep you from going after your dreams, Misa, think about your career, I’d only be a burden”), the apartment was as good as his.

One week into University, Light had decided he would skip the part where he was required to have friends. It was far easier to make pleasant conversations now and then with girls looking at him in admiration. A while ago he had started talking to Kiyomi, one of the smarter girls in his class, who had initially tried to play hard-to-get. A few walks around the campus had changed that and then one thing led to another, and the next thing Light knew, Kiyomi had invited herself to his place.

And so right now, Light was standing in front of his apartment door, fumbling in his pocket for the keys while Kiyomi discreetly felt him up from the back. He would have appreciated it more only if they weren't standing in the middle of the corridor, in plain view of anyone who decided to step out of their door or come up through the stairs - Light wasn't a big fan of exhibitionism.

Suddenly there was a loud yowl making Light and Kiyomi jump. A cat appeared few feet away, seemingly out of nowhere. It yowled again and scurried down the corridor, charging at Light, who let out a startled squeal and tried to duck. The cat however, fled past him and kept running.

Just as Light realized that the cat was running towards the stairs, and not him, the door next to Light's opened with a bang.

A lanky figure darted towards the stairs, seemingly after the cat and slammed right into Light, knocking him off his feet. He heard Kiyomi scream. The figure however, did not stop. Covering the corridor in a few paces, he lunged and finally caught the struggling cat by its middle.

Light, who had only managed to avoid falling head-first by throwing out his arms, stood up.

Kiyomi had stopped screaming and was now glaring at the owner of the cat. The man-in-question was still scuffling with the cat, who was trying its best to escape his grasp even as he muttered soothing things to the animal. Light dusted off his hands and glared at the offender, who continued to ignore them in favour of his pet.

After a full minute of collective ineffectual glaring, Light finally decided to speak up.

He cleared his throat. “Excuse me?”

The man finally looked up from his cat. The first thing Light noticed was that he had terrible dark circles under his eyes. "Yes?"

Light didn't know what to say. "You - you knocked me down."

"Oh. Right."

Light bristled.

"You should apologise to Light", Kiyomi spoke up. Oh god, now Kiyomi was trying to defend his honour.

The man stared at them blankly, still struggling with the cat. "I don't see why I should."

"Your cat came charging at me like a hurricane -”

“Oh yes, he is very fast.”

“- _and_ then you slammed into me so hard I almost fell,” Light snapped irritably.

The man started walking towards his door. "Kira is very afraid of taking baths. Every time I mention the prospect, he makes a run for it. I couldn't possibly have let him go running off like that. He is my only companion here." He turned at his doorstep to look at Light properly. "Are you the new tenant?"

"Yes", Light answered curtly. He had never really spared any thoughts over who his neighbour might be. All he had known was what Rem had told him: that on one side lived a middle-aged woman who he only saw in the mornings and on the other side lived a young man who people hardly ever saw.

"You can call me Ryuzaki. And this is Kira.” The cat hissed. “He is very happy to meet you."

 

"Maybe you should change your apartment. That guy doesn't look normal to me", Kiyomi expressed her concern, as they walked out of his apartment an hour later.

"It's not easy finding affordable apartments in Tokyo", Light countered, as they came out of the building to find her driver waiting.

"But he might just be a serial killer. Did you see his eyes? His clothes? Not to mention that probably _diseased_ cat of this, " Kiyomi said as they reached the car, turning to face him.

"It's nothing", Light waved his hand. "Anyway", he looked at Kiyomi, smiling the way he only did around girls when he was alone with them, "that was fun. We should do it again", he whispered, leaning forward to kiss her.

Kiyomi blushed.

Ha.

 

Light wasn't really sure why he bothered trying to impress Kiyomi.

Or, _continuing_ to impress Kiyomi since it was pretty clear she was already head over heels for him. It was a shame really. In the beginning it had seemed like a challenge. Kiyomi had tried her best to seem unimpressed by his achievements and looks, but in the end, it had barely taken a month to make her fall for him.

How disappointing.

University was disappointing. He had expected to be challenged, at least more so than high school had challenged him, but people were still dull, stupid and perpetually in awe of him, and he was still better than any of them could ever hope to be, and it was all still _boring_.

So maybe Kiyomi was his own attempt to make things interesting, to have a challenge. Except a few hours after Kiyomi had left, he found himself lying wide awake, on his bed, unable to sleep and yet, reluctant to do anything else. He checked his messages: one from Kiyomi and one from his sister, telling him about how she is planning to get a cat now that he had moved out. He scowled; Sayu was well aware of how sca- allergic he was to cats (and for good reason; he was still a little disturbed by how he’d almost been mauled by the cat earlier).

He should probably read a book, except he had either already read the ones in his room or they didn’t interest him.

He stared at the ceiling and then decided to switch on the lights. Initially, Light had been pleased to see the bare white bedroom walls but now the white light made the room look clinical and depressing.

He picked up his phone. He scrolled down his social media feed listlessly, clicking on articles that vaguely interested him. Ten minutes later, he threw his phone aside and grabbed his laptop instead.

Time to hack into the NPA database again.

 

In the past couple of years, Light had noticed a sudden increase in the frequency and number of cases solved by the NPA. As much as his father would have liked him to believe, it wasn't because the officers had suddenly become more efficient. No, there was some other factor responsible for this and Light had soon discovered, through some unlawful snooping and eavesdropping, that the other factor was an ‘L’.

Initially, Light had no idea what exactly L was. Was L an organisation, a person, a program, a computer or a code name for something entirely different? After some research, he had discovered that L was allegedly a person, one who called himself a 'consulting detective', and operated through his agents, one of whom was former FBI officer, Misora Naomi and the other, a man known as B. While the face of Misora was quite well-known in the NPA, B had made very rare public appearances and only a few were aware of how he looked.

Although his existence wasn’t a big secret in itself, (most NPA officers seemed to be aware of him), L however, never showed his face.  Light wondered if L was a made-up identity, maybe concocted by Misora and B. Or maybe B was L. Or it could be Misora all along. Light had desperately tried to forge a connection between the three, in order to discover the identity of L himself, but till now, he hadn’t succeeded. A fact that frustrated him as much as it excited him. Once or twice, he had imagined L in a long overcoat with a deerstalker, and a pipe in his mouth, peering at things with a magnifying glass...okay that was just Sherlock Holmes, yes Light imagined L as Sherlock Holmes.

Without ever having met him or even knowing how he looked like, L had become the most interesting person (?) Light knew of. L was clearly very intelligent. Light had gone through some of his cases and he had to admit, L was a brilliant detective. It had only made him more determined to discover his identity and his recent hacking into NPA databases had more to do with L than reading up on their cases.

  
  
A couple of hours later, as Light switched off his laptop and prepared to sleep, he wondered if L ever got bored.


	2. unwanted visitors and neighbours who don't wear shoes

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Kira sneaks into Light's apartment. Light's not happy about it.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> HUGE thanks to Zenthisoror for beta-reading! And apologies for the delay.

'If there are no more questions, I'd like to take my leave now', L spoke into the mic as Kira rested in his lap. The case he had been working on for two weeks had finally come to an end and he was looking forward to a proper meal. 

'No, I think that's all we need', Soichiro Yagami's voice echoed in his bedroom, 'the NPA is grateful for your help, again, L.' 

'Well, as a token of their gratitude, I'd expect NPA officers to be more co-operative during investigations with L in the future.’ L scratched behind Kira's ears. ‘We almost lost an important lead because of Aizawa-san's insubordination earlier in the case.’

Soichiro merely sighed. 'I apologize on Aizawa's behalf. You can expect better co-operation in the future.' 

He could almost hear Aizawa bristle. 

'Apology accepted. Until next time then, Yagami-san', L said and hung up. 

He had had fun working with the officers on the case. Aizawa had been delightfully easy to rile up when things got boring. However, he also had to make sure the officers knew who was actually in-charge. He couldn't have them questioning his authority at such a crucial stage in the investigation. 

L gently coaxed Kira out of his lap to stand up and stretched his arms. Sliding open the door to the balcony, he breathed in the fresh, cool air of the night. He checked the time: thirty minutes past one. 

Kira's tail brushing past him into the balcony reminded him that before anything else, Kira needed to be fed. He turned and walked towards his kitchen, picking up chocolate wrappers he had carelessly thrown around before on the way. His kitchen and fridge were empty except for the cat food that Beyond had stocked his lower cupboard with and some chocolates. Squatting down, he opened the cupboard, took out Kira's food and filled his bowl with kibble. He turned around, expecting to see Kira waiting eagerly.

Kira was, however, nowhere to be seen in the kitchen; L had assumed he had followed him there. 'Kira, time for food', he called out. No response.

Frowning, he stood up, holding the bowl full of cat food. He shuffled to his bedroom again when he saw the door to the balcony open. He peeked into the balcony, expecting to find the cat dozing off in the cramped space but it was empty. He checked in the bedroom again, then his kitchen, living room and finally the bathroom with no success. Kira never hid or disappeared except when L was trying to bathe him. He decided to look in the balcony again.

L was in his bedroom when he heard a familiar loud yelp through the balcony door.

_ Oh.  _

  
  
  


Light had returned from his date with Yuuri around ten, and three hours later, his body still showed no signs of falling asleep. He had already talked to Kiyomi, who had chatted for longer than usual as she was away on a family vacation, texted Yuuri back who had insisted on him calling her as soon as he reached his apartment after seeing her off and called his mother who had been complaining about how he had completely isolated himself after moving out. As all these conversations had failed to put him to sleep, he had decided to engage in political debates on social media but gave up soon when he realized there was no point debating with people who were so below his intellectual level and had no actual facts to support their arguments.

And so he found himself researching Misora Naomi, again, at one-thirty in the morning. Although there was more information available about Misora than B and L combined, it still wasn't much except the basics. She had worked in the FBI for five years after which she had abruptly left the US and settled in Japan. L had started solving cases a couple of years before Misora joined him and the first case where she was spotted on the crime scene, presumably to gather evidence for L happened a few months later. 

It was possible that L had met her after she came to Japan. It was also possible that whatever made her leave the FBI was somehow connected to L. If only Light could find out what made her leave the FBI...

There was a soft, slithering  _ thump _ . 

Light's head shot up in time to see his clothes, folded and stacked neatly on the chair, sprawl across the floor. And then, beyond the glare of his laptop screen, something shifted in the dark.

He stiffened. He had left the balcony door open to let some air come in, but there was no way a thief could climb all the way up to the fourth floor. 

The shadow in the corner of his room moved. It seemed smaller than a human. 

He broke out in cold sweat; he didn't really like animals, they were too...unpredictable. He carefully climbed out of his bed and wondered if he should run to his drawing room for safety or find out what was hiding behind his door. 

He settled for the latter. Slowly, he moved towards the switch on the wall beside the other door. His fingers fumbled for a few seconds before pushing the light switch on.

As soon as Light's fingers found the switch and turned the lights on, the thing _pounced_.

Well, it didn't pounce, it merely jumped out from the shadows. However, Light couldn't care less as he yelped loud enough to wake his neighbours up. He wrenched the door to the living room open and slammed it shut behind him, but not before he caught a glimpse of the unwanted visitor in his room, staring up at him with big yellow eyes.

It was that goddamn stupid cat again. 

 

 

While Light was wondering how to deal with the animal in his bedroom (it was probably stepping all over his clothes right now, he pictured angrily), the doorbell rang. Light glanced back at his bedroom door, before checking his watch. He was ready to deal with annoyed neighbours this late as long as they helped him take the cat out. It wasn't his fault anyway; it was the stupid cat's fault who had entered his room without his permission and made all the ruckus and the cat's owner's who had let it. 

Fuming inside but putting on his best apologetic expression, Light opened the door. 

_ Talk of the devil.  _

'Good evening', his neighbour was slouching at the doorstep, his tangled bird’s nest of hair sticking up in all directions. 'I believe my cat might have ventured into your apartment. By mistake.' 

Light scowled, all traces of friendly apology gone. 'It's two in the morning! Your stupid cat broke into my apartment!' 

L wafted his hands up and down, as though shushing him. Shushing  _ Light,  _ with a box of cat kibble in one hand _. _ ‘There’s no need to be so dramatic about it.’

'It's your duty, as an owner of a pet, to be aware of its whereabouts all the time. Especially if it's capable of sneaking into other people's houses!'

'Which is precisely why I am here.’ Ryuzaki put a thumb to the corner of his mouth and smiled around it...'I came as soon as I heard you yell in fear. Very loudly, in fact-'

'I did not  _ yell in fear _ .’

‘Would you rather I said ‘squeak’?’ 

Light closed his eyes, counted to ten, then took a very deep breath and stepped aside from the doorway. 'Take your cat and leave.’

Ryuzaki fixed him with the infuriating blank look again. 'Oh, are you inviting me inside your apartment?'

'How else are you planning to take the cat away?' Light asked irritably. This was taking too long of his precious time, and, damn it, the guy wasn’t even wearing any shoes. He was going to track dirt from the corridor all over his flat…

Ryuzaki’s wide eyes and pronounced slouch made him look like a lanky owl in the dark. 'I was under the impression that you wouldn't want a stranger entering your apartment at this hour and would prefer to hand over Kira yourself.'

‘Well...' It was true that he didn't like the idea of his freak of a neighbour coming inside his apartment, that too at this time (' _S_ _ erial killer _ ', Kiyomi's voice echoed inside his head) but he didn't really have a choice. What was he going to do, pick up the beast himself, with his own bare hands? 

Light cleared his throat. 'I don't like touching animals, they are dirty and unclean.'

'Kira is as clean as cats can be.' Ryuzaki sounded offended. It made Light feel triumphant for some reason.

'Well you aren't really a - complete stranger, you are my neighbour', he said nonchalantly, 'and we talked just a few days ago...'

'Ah, I was not aware our relationship had progressed so far already.’ And then, without warning, he was pushing past Light into the apartment, trailing kibble and sweaty footprints that Light couldn’t see but he just  _ knew _ were there behind him. ‘So, where is Kira?’

Ryuzaki’s eyes swivelled around, as if taking everything in. 

Light sighed and closed the door behind him. He could think about cleaning up Ryuzaki’s greasy possibly-a-Serial-Killer tracks later. 

'In the bedroom. I, er, locked it in', Light pointed towards the door to his bedroom. He still hadn't moved from his position near the doorway, so it was easier to escape if Ryuzaki suddenly decided to whirl round and attack him with a knife. 

Ryuzaki, seemingly oblivious to Light's discomfort, ambled towards the door and opened it slowly, poking his head inside.

'Kira?' he called out. 

A loud meow answered his call. 

He stepped inside, disappearing from view to Light's consternation. He could hear Ryuzaki walking around in the room, calling out to the cat who was apparently hiding. 

Light sighed, wondering how he got stuck in situations like this. The cat was proving to be a bigger menace that he had expected. 

After a few minutes of persuading and running after the cat, which involved it sneaking into the living room and running towards Light ( _ Why? Why was the cat always after him? _ ) who jumped on the couch, the only furniture in the living room beside a table (but at least he did not yell this time), Ryuzaki finally pinned down the creature with a dive. 

'Apparently Kira has taken a liking to your apartment', Ryuzaki remarked, panting while the Black Menace struggled in his arms. 'Or maybe he has taken a liking to you and doesn't want to leave you alone.’ 

He stroked the cat's neck which seemed to calm it down a little. Light wrinkled his nose.'I don't think so. Do cats usually pounce at people they like?'

'Well-'

'Regardless, I don't like  _ it, _ so  _ it _ had better stay out of my apartment', and preferably my sight, Light added internally but didn't voice it out loud. Ryuzaki seemed touchy about his cat and he had already wasted a lot of his time. 

'Hm,’ Ryuzaki scratched the cat behind its ears, but his eyes were on Light, looking far too sharp and knowing for this time in the morning, ‘one would almost think you are _scared_ of cats...'

Light contained himself from rising to the obvious bait. He smiled. 

'I am not scared, I am merely cautious.' He walked towards the door and opened it wide.

Ryuzaki kept stroking the cat's neck, who seem to have fallen asleep remarkably quickly in his arms. 'I was thinking, since we are already on such good terms for you to have invited me inside your apartment ( _ Your cat invited itself to my apartment _ , Light thought grudgingly), I should at least know your name.'

Light briefly debated whether he should. 'Yagami Light', he said, pointing towards the open door.

Ryuzaki continued to stroke his cat, apparently oblivious. 

'That's a...very interesting name, Yagami-kun', he commented, unmoving. Light wanted to shove him out of the door but he was rather wary of the beast sleeping in his arms. So he played along.

'Yes, it is', he replied, sighing. 'It was nice to see you again, Ryuzaki. Now if you don't mind, I'd like to go to bed.'

'Oh yes, of course', Ryuzaki looked surprised as if the thought of Light wanting to go to bed at 2 am hadn't occurred to him before. He was almost at the door, damn hellcat tucked under one arm and box of kibble under the other, when he turned around, eyes wide. 

'I am curious, how does Yagami-kun prefer his name to be pronounced? Is it the Japanese pronunciation or-' 

'Ryuzaki just -, we can talk about this later. I need to sleep-' 

'Right. I was about to have dinner myself before Kira entered your apartment. Sadly I don't have anything in my kitchen. Does Yagami-kun have anything -' 

Light slammed the door in his face. 

  
  


L put Kira down gently on the plush cushion that was his bed. Kira opened his eyes blearily and spotted the bowl of kibble that L had set down beside his cushion. Sleepily, he started eating out of the bowl, causing L to chuckle.

With Kira almost asleep, L proceeded to make preparations regarding his own sleep. He had already discarded the idea of dinner. Eating at this time would only prevent him from sleeping that was far more crucial to his well-being. 

After every solved case, L would treat himself to a proper sleep (and not the naps that he took around the house in uncomfortable positions) that could last anytime between six to sixteen hours, depending on the kind of work the case required. He estimated eight hours for this one. At this point, he didn't really have to force himself to sleep; his body was tired and begging him to rest and it was just a matter of lying down in the right clothes (that Watari bought for him), right music (that Naomi had recently recommended) and the right pills (that he stole from Beyond). 

But before all that, he needed to do something else. He took out his phone.

'Met Soichiro Yagami's son finally. He seems very interested in you'. He wrote before tapping on 'Send'. Tossing the phone aside, he stripped into his boxers and put on Watari's pajamas, swallowed the pills and put on the music. There was a pause and then suddenly loud rock music blared in the speakers, causing him to wince and shut the music down. He scowled and picked up his phone again.

'Oh and your music recommendation sucks, Misora.'

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°) If all goes well (it never does), we might meet Naomi and/or Beyond in the next chapter! I am so excited about writing Naomi. Still having trouble writing Light but I am trying to improve with the help of Zen and generally being a narcissist asshole to get in the feel (kidddddding).  
> Also, I finally figured out what breed Kira belongs to and would probably mention that in the next chapter. Not really a big suspense but you can guess in the comments, if you want.  
> Oh and lastly, tell me how you feel about the fic, tell me which line you liked best, if you liked the ending (Zen did so I think it must be good) or like, anything literally. It'll make me really happy.

**Author's Note:**

> My first multi-chapter fic! Feedback is love.  
> I am on tumblr: pashmina-dhaage.tumblr.com


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